Makani Power, Inc. High Altitude Wind Harvesting

"Makani Power is seeking to harness high-altitude wind energy to produce energy at an unsubsidized real cost significantly below that of the least expensive coal-fired power plants, the current benchmark of the lowest cost source of power." (Vision statement (http://www.makanipower.com/vision.html))

The company's partnership with Google is likely to give them the capital and credibility nudge required to realize their objective.

High altitude wind (twice as high as birds fly) is available everywhere on the planet, is decentralized, and eliminates the need to ship fuel around the globe.

Mah Kah Nee 

ma-ka-ni is a Hawaiian word meaning wind or breeze.

"Makani is designing membrane structures to cover large areas of the sky efficiently and cost effectively. The average wind energy at high altitudes appears to be more than 10 times greater than at a well-sited terrestrial wind turbine." [1] (http://www.google.com/corporate/green/energy/makani.pdf)

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High-altitude wind is also much more dependable than terrestrial wind.

"Along with solar, wind represents the only renewable source of energy that is substantially larger than the world's current energy needs. Moreover, of all of the renewable energy technologies (wind, solar, tidal, hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal), high-altitude wind has the largest energy per square foot. Capturing a small fraction of the global high-altitude wind energy flux could be sufficient to supply the current energy needs of the globe. Makani is developing high-altitude wind energy extraction technologies aimed at the most powerful wind resources."

For more on Makani go to:  http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Makani_Power,_Inc._High_Altitude_Wind_Harvesting